Tabal asks city to develop training hub

Marathoner Mary Joy Tabal is imploring the Cebu City Government to speed up development of a parcel of land in Barangay Taptap that’s being eyed as a training hub for both grassroots and elite runners in Cebu.

Speaking from her training camp in Tuscany, Tabal said she hopes the City will start the development of the land, which she and her coach John Philip Dueñas identified as an ideal place to put up a training camp for Cebu City.

“It’s a lot owned by the City Government in Barangay Taptap. Since it is not being used, we asked the City Government to make it into a training camp. All we ask is help to flatten the land. Dili na kinahanglan og rubberized oval, yuta lang pwede na (We don’t need rubberized oval. We can just run on the ground),” Tabal told SunStar Cebu yesterday.

Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo confirmed Tabal’s request.

“Na mention to nila ni coach Philip ug Joy, but I still haven’t received the details of their program proposal,” Guardo’s comment.

Tabal, who will try to defend her Milo Marathon title on Dec. 3, is set to arrive in Cebu on Monday as she has wrapped up her training in Italy for the Milo National Marathon National Final. This is also part of her preparation for the Asian Games in Jakarta in August next year.

Aside from her personal goal to become one of the best marathoners in Asia, the 2016 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist is pushing through with her efforts in helping train and develop the skills of grassroots athletes in Cebu. Having a training camp that is open to all would abet that goal.

“Lahi ra gyud kung for some moment of training ma- isolate ka from your family. Cebu is an ideal place for training naa ta dinha elevation for high altitude training and we have good places to train that is why Taptap is an ideal base. From there, we can go anywhere,” Tabal added.

After the Milo Marathon, Tabal will be going back to Tuscany as she hopes to join the camp’s Uganda training trip.